After being involved in a wreck early Sunday, a Douglas County man got out of his truck to survey the damage.
That’s when the 58-year-old was struck and killed as his wife and son looked on, according to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office in Florida.
John W. Jenkins, of Villa Rica, was transported to the hospital, but did not survive his injuries, according to police. Jenkins and his family were returning from a weekend trip to south Florida at the time of the crash, the sheriff’s office said.
The driver who struck Jenkins stopped at the scene, police said. But the driver involved in the first wreck with Jenkins left the scene.
“With the help of Florida Turnpike officials, (investigators) obtained video of a dark blue Chevy Avalanche leaving the scene after the initial crash,” the sheriff’s office. “Just after 1:30 p.m., investigators located that damaged truck partially concealed in a parking spot at a Pompano Beach apartment building. The airbags had been deployed.”
Investigators had not yet identified the Chevy’s driver late Monday.
The Jenkins family made the weekend trip to visit a cancer-stricken relative and was headed home at the time of the crash, the Sun Sentinel newspaper in Fort Lauderdale reported.
“I was on the phone with the 911 operator, had just stepped away from my husband when I hear my son screaming, ‘Dad, Dad,’” Shirley Jenkins told the newspaper. “I said, ‘Oh, my God, someone just killed my husband.’ I couldn’t believe it.”
John Jenkins was killed on his son’s 18th birthday, Shirley Jenkins said.
The crash remains under investigation.
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